Ask the Pastor

Thought Life

Question:

I struggle with thoughts of death. I regularly go to church and read the Word, but Satan always seems to try to get in and attack me through my thoughts that when I lay down at night, I’m going to die or when I kiss my kids, that’s the last time I’m going to be kissing them. I really struggle with them. I’m looking for healing and to be able to rebuke them and have them actually go away.

Answered on 05/11/06:

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We must take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ.” You can’t control what thoughts knock at your door, but you can control which thoughts you let into your house.

So, when a thought comes, you have to take it captive. How do you take it captive? You have to bring something more powerful than that thought; you have to come against that thought with something more powerful than that thought. What is more powerful than those thoughts of fear is the Word of God.

The Word of God, the promises of God, is more powerful than any thoughts of fear or of “this is the last time you’re going to kiss your children” or anything like that. You have to speak the Word of God out of your mouth. "No evil will come near my dwelling place,” Psalm 91. Isaiah 54, “No weapon formed against me will prosper.” As you speak those words out of your mouth, they will captivate and subdue the thoughts that are coming against you.

Find the Scriptures against fear. 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind.” 1 John 4:17-18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Those are some of the Scriptures that I would give you. Look those and others up and go from there. You can also find scripture confessions on our website that deal with this issue. You’ll be alright.

Question:

Is it a sin for you to masturbate? Or is it a sin to think about masturbation?

Answered on 05/09/06:

It’s not a sin to think about something but it can be a sin to act on that thought. We have to control our thoughts and we have to take thoughts captive. You have to realize that you can’t determine who knocks on your door, but you can determine who you’re going to let in. So a lot of thoughts are going to knock on your door and a lot of temptation is going to come to you but you have to be decisive on what you’re going to allow into your life and which thoughts you’re going to allow into your life.

The only way to really control our thought life is to train ourselves to think the way that God thinks and to think along the lines of the Bible; to meditate on the Word of God. That’s how we’re going to do the right things. That’s how we’re going to live right. As we think right, we’re going to live right. We need to meditate on God’s Word and we need to think about God’s Word and good things will begin to emerge from our lives.

Now, to be specific about your question, “Is it sin to masturbate?” Well, is it sin to get angry? Yes. Is it sin to be afraid? Yes. Is it sin to be mad at somebody and chew them out? Is it a sin to get drunk? I mean, all of these are sins. Is it a sin to masturbate? Yes. Does God forgive? Yes, but is there a place where you draw the line? Yes, I believe that where you draw the line is you draw the line on valuing yourself and having a sense of value and knowing who you are and that God loves you and knowing that you’re approved and accepted by Him. And when you understand the love that God has for you and you understand the approval that God has for you, then you cease to look for gratification with yourself and you get it from God.

The answer to your question is that it is inappropriate. We’ve got to get to the root of why one does that and that is because often people have low self-esteem and people have a low sense of self-worth and they feel a deep sense of guilt and they feel a deep sense of hurt in their life and they withdraw into themselves and then they look for gratification from themselves. What we need to do is look to God and find our freedom, find our forgiveness, find our deliverance from His love and His mercy.

Question:

What can one do if the things of God don’t excite you anymore and your thoughts are always negative?

Answered on 04/13/06:

Well, welcome to living the Christian life on an everyday basis. If we only lived for Jesus when we were excited about Him, if we only lived for Jesus when we felt like it, then we wouldn’t live for Jesus very long because there are many times in our lives where we don’t feel the same excitement, where we don’t feel the same fire.

What do you do in times like that? You treat it like a winter season. You know, in winter, you can’t grow flowers, you can’t grow grass. In winter, the roots are going down deeper. Seems like everything’s dead on the outside, but the root system is finding its nutrients and finding its water down below the frozen surface. And what has to happen is we have to do is endure those dry, wintry, cold seasons in our relationship with the Lord. And know that spring is coming again. But if you give up in the winter season, spring will never come. But if you are patient and you endure during the winter season, then spring will come again. You can count on it.

And when your thoughts are always negative, you have to take every thought captive. You have to fight spiritual warfare. When you have a negative thought, you have to overcome or overtake that negative thought with something positive. And what is that? It’s God’s Word, Scriptures, promises from God that encourage you. Speak those out of your mouth and those will overcome the negative thoughts that you are thinking.

Question:

What can one do if the things of God don’t excite you anymore and your thoughts are always negative?

Answered on 04/12/06:

What do you do in times like that? You treat it like a winter season. You know, in winter, you can’t grow flowers, you can’t grow grass. In winter, the roots are going down deeper. Seems like everything’s dead on the outside, but the root system is finding its nutrients and finding its water down below the frozen surface. And what has to happen is we have to endure those dry, wintry, cold seasons in our relationship with the Lord. And know that spring is coming again. But if you give up in the winter season, spring will never come. But if you are patient and you endure during the winter season, then spring will come again. You can count on it.

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